Hello all! My name is Casey, I've been playing magic for around two years now, and I have come to you with a request! In my playgroup, the majority of our games are team-oriented, as we all love the mayhem that multiplayer introduces. Many nights are spent waging war with each other to see which giant falls first, who is the true emperor of the table, and to find out who really is the usurper. We love team games, but our decks aren't usually very synergistic when it comes to our partners; sure, Kaalia and Zurgo are good and fun commanders, but they have little to no interaction when paired up (but it is quite aggressive and sometimes impressive!). With this in mind, and because I have been on hiatus for a couple months while traveling, I decided to make a deck that would serve to strengthen my friends decks when we play team games. A lot of us run aggro / voltron / commander damage oriented decks, so I tried my hand at making a deck that could be used to amplify the power of my friends. To do so, I turned to the colors of my very first commander deck: Bant.
If I remember correctly, our group likes to play with Zurgo, Kaalia, Child of Alara, Uril, Thraximundar, and Sliver Overlord (to name a few). I chose Bant mainly because I wanted to provide blue and white to my friend who plays Zurgo. He my or may not be my best friend, so he may or may not have superiority over the others. In Bant, I have many options to protect Zurgo that he obviously does not have access to. The current iteration of this deck was built in such a way that it could probably just use Rafiq as its commander and achieve the same result, but that's not what I want to do with it. Instead, I have gone an entirely enchanting route. The sole purpose of the deck is to beef up Zurgo, protect him, and help him connect for lethal very quickly. While my friend plays his deck, which can hold its own in a fight, this deck will be at his side offering things like Flitterstep Eidolon or Bear Umbra, cards that he would not have access to otherwise. I have included some counterspells and some cards to help him draw, as his build for Zurgo doesn't have many card draw options. Mainly, though, this is a deck all about enchantments.
For the general, I believe my choices are between Derevi and Roon. Derevi helps me to untap his Zurgo if we can't find a vigilance provider and tap down any threats we may not have an immediate response to. Roon assists me in blinking his guys and potentially moving Zurgo out of harm's way if needed. As stated above, I do not wish to go with Rafiq, as that is not really what I am going for here. I have Bruna in the deck as a backup, but she is not the focus. :)
Some card choice explanations:
1.) I have included Willbreaker to hopefully nab some creatures from my opponents, as this deck isn't really focused on getting creatures out. Cards like Kaseto offer Zurgo a path through the fray, but can also steal my opponents creatures. Asceticism serves to regenerate Zurgo or steal my opponents creatures. He makes Memnarchs tricks cost less for creatures and allows me to enchant an opponents creature if need be. If I go the Derevi route, Derevi taps down and steals my opponents threats.
2.) I have included Dismiss Into Dream because it allows me to get rid of my opponents pesky indestructibles by using the same techniques as Willbreaker, as well as deterring my opponents from targeting their own creatures with abilities or spells. As an enchantment heavy deck, this card seems wonderful in theory.
3.) Elspeth, Knight-Errant: this planeswalker seems like a win-win for my Helm-smashing friend and me. I can +1 to give him flying for the turn and beef him up or create a little chump. If this is allowed to happen enough, it serves to make my enchantments indestructible for the rest of the match. While I am not expecting to ultimate, the +3/+3 and flying on ZUrgo is deadly in a playgroup that isn't big on flyers!
4.) The theme of the deck is to help my friend out, so I included Spectral Searchlight to offer him some mana if he needs it. If I can flip Jushi Apprentice, then he needn't worry about topdecking. Opportunity, Deep Analysis, and Comparative Analysis serve to help him with his card draw, as well. Fertilid helps me in a pinch, but happily donates his counters to give my friend a land drop. Asceticism regenerates our friendly neighborhood Zurgo and Kaseto makes him unblockable. There's also about twenty auras all intended to make Zurgo stornger and the game faster.
I believe that covers all the card choices I have made. My request for you, wonderful people of the internet, is to offer any pointers, edits, criticisms, or questions you have for me. I would like to know some other thoughts. Maybe you know of cards that I do not, or think X card is better than the Y card I used in my deck. Tell me why it is better! How can I make this deck more useful to my teammate? Do you know of any cards that would go great in helping out a Zurgo deck, or really any deck in general? Please share with me your thoughts on how to be a good teammate in EDH! Should I focus more on helping him draw cards or protecting the board, or should I push my own agenda? Ultimately, this is supposed to be the best deck it can be to work in tandem with Zurgo Helmsmasher, or really any aggro deck in general. Do you think this is even a playable deck? I suppose the end result is to achieve victory the turn after Zurgo comes out: make him stick, boost him up, help him connect, keep him on the field, and close it down the following turn.
(And please don't mock my lands! :D I do not have duals or fetches or anything of the sort; the lands in the deck are the ones I have to work with. :P I know the deck would be better with the fancy lands, but I am not capable of using them at the moment.)
Thanks so much for reading this far. If you have any questions because I did not make any sense with my above words, I would be happy to answer them. Eager to hear from you!
-Casey
